JD Scoop

For your reference, three articles recently posted on JD Supra that offer solid insights into (as Joshua Fruchter puts it in his whitepaper below) the "mainstay of a firm's online presence" - the law firm website:

1. The Top Ten Law Firm Website Best Practices
From Fruchter/eLawMarketing: "A law firm website that is well-designed, easily navigated, and populated with useful content projects expertise, attention to detail, and technological savvy - key qualities that clients look for in a law firm.

On the other hand, an outdated, poorly designed website is, as one general counsel aptly remarked in a recent survey, 'like showing up to a meeting in a crumpled suit.'

Deploying a law firm website that attracts visitors, holds their attention and converts them into leads, requires compliance with 'best practices.' This white paper will discuss the following top 10 law firm website best practices..." Read on>>

2. The Future of the Law Firm Website
From Robert Algeri/Great Jakes Marketing: "During the past two years, my colleagues and I have studied the Great Recession's effects on legal marketing and law firm Web sites. Our conclusion is that the law firm Web site is about to undergo a revolution. Specifically, we expect law firm Web sites to:

• Become more valuable. Web sites will rival face-to-face meetings in terms of their importance in business development.

• Become bigger. They will grow to accommodate much more content.

• Focus more on attorneys. Law firm Web sites increasingly will cater to the business development needs of individual attorneys.

In short, a law firm's Web site will no longer be considered supplemental marketing collateral. Rather, it increasingly will be thought of as a marketing platform that is central to all aspects of a firm's marketing activity (online and offline). This may seem a radical notion for some firms. However, it is a natural reaction to major changes that have occurred in the business environment..." Read on>>

3. Law Firm Website Contact Forms
From Steve Matthews at Stem Legal: "It's arguably the most important thing on your law firm's website, the whole reason why it exists. Yet it's usually parked in some distant corner of the site, and a challenge for visitors to find quickly and use easily...

A prospective client, having reviewed a firm's website in detail, often decides to reach out and speak with one of the firm's lawyers. This contact is typically established using one of three methods: Phone us; Email us; Fill out and submit this online contact form.

Many firms use all three contact methods, while some firms will limit the number of contact points made available. I recommend maximizing both the number and visibility of contact options, but ultimately, each contact style is an option for firms, not a requirement.

In this month's column, I thought it might be interesting to isolate and discuss one of those methods: the law firm website contact form..." Read on>>

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[Also see John Hellerman's response to the Great Jakes post: Robert Algeri Predicts the Future]

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